Six student-led bands to rock at 'Band Bash'
BY VINCENT TODARO
Staff Writer

SPOTSWOOD - This time it's the teacher who has to cram for the exam.

Senior class adviser, science teacher and part-time musician Christopher Talish will do some last-minute practicing to get ready for tomorrow night's "Band Bash," to be held at the Spotswood High School cafetorium.

Talish, who sings and plays guitar, is performing with high school students in a rock band formed specifically for "Band Bash."

The band is among six rock bands, all featuring Spotswood High School students, set to play at the event, which will run from 7 to 10 p.m. in the cafetorium.

The annual concert was started three years ago by Patricia Bodak, a special education teacher at the high school, and serves as a fundraiser for the senior class trip and prom, according to the district.

Talish said his new band is called Computerless Science, a take-off on the prior year when he performed with a computer teacher.

The new band includes Talish and four high school students on bass, drums, keyboards and saxophone. They plan to do four or five cover songs, ranging from the Beatles to Gnarls Barkley.

"We'll practice after school on Wednesday and Thursday," he said earlier this week. "They're really talented musicians. I'm the one who needs to practice."

Talish is running this year's "Band Bash" with fellow class adviser Jeff Marvinny, a math teacher at the high school.

Bodak started the event when she was class adviser to the then-junior class in 2004. She also ran the event last year when those class members were seniors. Advisers serve with a class throughout its time at the school.

"We're the senior class advisers now, and we decided to keep it going," Talish said of himself and Marvinny. "It's aimed mostly for the kids rather than the parents, and we had a pretty good turnout last year."

The school also has a talent show, which is held later in the school year, but Talish said some students seem to prefer "Band Bash" over the more formal talent show.

"Band Bash" will include refreshments and an area to dance, but no moshing will be allowed, he said.

Though Talish's band was formed just for the event, others have been performing for a while.

Among the other bands playing are Embrace the Ignition, which will do cartoon themes, and The Classics, which will perform a mix of originals and Beatles songs.

"We have a couple of bands that love the Beatles and a couple that hate them," he said.

The school will film the event, he noted.

Tickets are $5 and will be available at the door.